Chad Dunn used to spend his days on the floor of a Hyundai plant in Savannah, Ga., watching the clock, feeling pressure, and wondering how long he could keep going. “Life in America was pretty unfulfilling and pretty stressed out,” he said. “Like most folks, just in a rat race.”
Now he lives in Da Nang, a coastal city in Vietnam, and runs a relocation business helping other Americans move there. “I can pick you up from the airport, set you up with a phone, a bank account, and get you settled in an apartment in under a week,” he said. Many of his clients first find him on TikTok, where his videos about daily life abroad prompt viewers to ask how they can make a similar move.
Global expat surveys have ranked Vietnam and Thailand highly for affordability and quality of life. Estimates from the Association of Americans Resident Overseas, using U.N. data, show Americans living in Southeast Asia rose from about 32,000 in 1990 to nearly 88,000 in 2024 (that count omits several countries, so true numbers are likely higher). A Brookings Institution study published this year estimates net migration for the U.S. turned negative in 2025 — the first time in at least half a century — suggesting more people may be leaving than arriving.
Brooke Erin Duffy, an associate professor of communication at Cornell, says the movement builds on longer trends, especially remote work and digital nomadism. “More and more people are working remotely … and trying to find ways to integrate work into their lifestyle,” she said. Social media accelerates the shift by circulating aspirational, relatable images of remote work set against appealing backdrops. But Duffy warns those images are filtered and can misrepresent the realities of living abroad.
Expats often hype Vietnam for affordability. Mia Moore, a 37-year-old holistic nutritionist from Northern California, moved to Da Nang earlier this year after years of traveling through the region. She describes a gradual decision to seek something different. In Vietnam she pays about a fifth of her former rent, finds utilities negligible, and can afford meals out; a bowl of pho near her apartment costs roughly $2, about $4 with extras. “People say it’s cheap, but that makes it sound low quality,” she said. “It’s actually a really high quality of life. It’s just less expensive.”
On TikTok, Americans living in places like Da Nang and Bangkok stream simple scenes — beachfront cafés, city apartments, night walks — sending a clear message: life in Southeast Asia looks easier. For many, that appeal starts with cost. Rent, food, and transport can be a fraction of U.S. city prices, particularly for people earning or saving in U.S. dollars, and that difference reshapes daily priorities. Moore says she now organizes her day around how she wants to feel rather than financial pressure.
For some expats, the draw is less about money and more about reducing stress. Chris Michaels left Chicago and the corporate toy industry to move to Thailand in 2018. He retired early at 46 and has spent more than seven years there. “I’d get up, go to work, go to the gym, go to sleep — rinse and repeat,” he said of his previous life. After a trip to Bangkok, he wondered how to live there full time. He now posts frequently on TikTok and fields the same question repeatedly: “Help me leave the United States and move to Thailand.”
But TikTok doesn’t tell the whole story. Many expats can afford a comfortable life because they earn, save, or have assets in U.S. dollars while spending in weaker local currencies — an advantage not shared by most Vietnamese or Thai citizens. Finding local work can be difficult: Vietnam restricts many jobs for foreigners, and common options like teaching English often pay far less than comparable U.S. roles. As a result, many rely on remote work, savings, or U.S.-based income streams, which lets them benefit from lower costs without fully integrating into the local labor market.
Healthcare costs can be lower, but access and quality vary outside major cities. Moore recently paid about 200,000 Vietnamese dong (roughly $8) for a dental cleaning, X-rays, and a checkup, but long-term needs, schooling, visas, and stable residency are often more complicated. Many Americans in Vietnam use tourist visas valid up to 90 days, which require leaving and re-entering the country regularly — a practice known as visa runs. Thailand’s visa options vary, but achieving long-term residency there can also be complex.
There are other trade-offs: distance from family, time zone differences, and the effort of rebuilding a life from scratch. Michaels recalled difficult early months: “I’d wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning thinking, what did I do? It took months to feel settled.” And a lower-stress lifestyle doesn’t come automatically. “A lot of people move here and bring their stress with them,” he said. “You have to let go of that.” Expat life can also emphasize an outsider status. “I’m a guest in this country,” Michaels said. “I will always be a foreigner.”
Still, many Americans who have made the move see it as permanent. Dunn noticed a reversal in reactions: where people once told him he was crazy to leave, they’re now calling asking how to go. “There’s no going back,” Dunn said. “You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.” For viewers scrolling TikTok, the platform offers both curiosity and a pathway toward commitment, but the realities of visas, work, integration, and occasional loneliness are quieter parts of the story that don’t always appear in livestreams or highlight reels.